Laughing gas shows promise for treatment-resistant depression, small trial finds

Perhaps a trip to your dentist will help your mood.  Contrary to what you feel about going to see your dentist for that toothache, it may have a beneficial effect on your mood due to a finding from a limited study. In this study, it turns out laughing gas (Nitrous oxide) may be a treatment for depression that does not respond to other treatments for chronic depression.

Laughing gas has been used to dull pain in dental offices and maternity units for more than a century, and researchers now think the gas, called nitrous oxide, may effectively treat depression when other therapies have failed.

That's according to the results of a small phase 2 clinical trial, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

About one-third of individuals suffering from depression are at risk for treatment resistance. Whereas inhaled 50% nitrous oxide has early antidepressant effects on individuals with treatment-resistant major depression (TRMD), adverse effects can occur at this concentration. In this phase 2 clinical trial, Nagele et al. studied the effects of a single 1-hour treatment with 25% nitrous oxide on depression symptoms in those with TRMD, finding that this lower concentration had comparable efficacy to 50% nitrous oxide over several weeks but was associated with significantly fewer adverse effects. These results highlight that lower concentrations of nitrous oxide may be a useful treatment for TRMD.

Up to 30 percent of people diagnosed with major depressive disorder don't respond to typical treatments, leaving a significant proportion of patients in need of new treatment options.

"Magic" mushrooms containing the psychedelic compound, Psilocybin

A Phase 2 clinical trial, conducted by researchers in London, was the first randomized trial to compare therapeutic doses of psilocybin — the psychedelic compound found in so-called magic mushrooms — with daily medication. The results were released in The New England Journal of Medicine.

"This is huge because it's showing that psilocybin is at least as good — and probably better than the gold standard treatment for depression," said Roland Griffiths, director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study.

Research on how psychedelics can be used to treat mental health conditions is still in its early stages, and much more will be needed to determine whether psychedelics, including psilocybin, are an effective long-term treatment. It's also still unclear how treatment involving psychedelics would be used in the real world, as patients must be monitored for hours when they are given the drug.

In addition to psychedelic drugs, ketamine an anesthetic drug used for many years for minor procedures is now approved by the FDA for use as a nasal spray.

Spravata, an FDA approved nasal spray containing esketamine

Just what can the drugs do? A single treatment with psilocybin has been shown to relieve crippling anxiety in people with terminal cancer. The drug has also been shown to be an effective therapy for substance use disorders. MDMA can provide valuable help to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

And there’s more. Preliminary evidence suggests that psychedelic drugs can be effective for eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and major depression — including cases that don't respond to conventional antidepressants.

The drugs may also be good for helping smokers kick the habit, a process that's often notoriously difficult via conventional means.

 

Stay tuned.

 

Laughing gas shows promise for treatment-resistant depression, small trial finds